Whenever you are under the intense rays of the sun, it is a must for you to keep an eye on your skin health to protect against keratosis and pre cancerous conditions caused by sun damage. The inducing rays of the sun are damaging to those who have fair skin more than those who have dark skin, although those with dark skin are still at risk even their skin offers more natural protection in the form of melanin.
In the first place, you have to know why the skin gets darker when staying in the sun. When exposed, the melanin of our skin makes it darker. There is a distinct formation of melanin for every person. This is why there are those people whose skin tans faster than those whose skin doesn’t tan at all. Skin tanning depends on where you are and what type of skin you have. The nearer you are to the equator, the more intense the rays of the sun are.
You have to take note that there is a variety of uses when it comes to the way sun protection creams work. Sun filters are divided into two types namely physical and chemical sun filters.
The skin is penetrated by these sun filters and so the rays of the sun are absorbed. The harmful rays from the sun no longer pass through the low layers of the skin because of sun protection creams. This best describes the chemical filters that are incorporated on the sun protection cream. For then, physical sun filters function as reflector on top of the skin evident in the thin membranes.
Sun protection creams are helpful in protecting the skin against ultraviolet type A rays or UVA rays and ultraviolet type B rays or UVB rays. The more usual term for these sun protection creams is broad spectrum cream. The damage done by ultraviolet type B rays affects the burning of the topmost layer of the skin that may lead to skin cancer. Ultraviolet type A rays, on the other hand, do not burn but they go through into the skin which affect aging.
The term SPF refers to sun protection factor which measures the strength of the sun protection cream against harmful UVB rays. But then again, it does not mean that you can go out in the sun for longer with higher SPF because it can lead to the invasion of UVA rays. The sun protection cream you are going to purchase must depend on the type of skin you have. A sun protection cream that has an SPF 15 is recommended for the majority of people.
